I came across an interesting commentary from the Telegraph in the UK anecdotally supporting a new study that claims it only costs 6 pounds (about $10) to keep kids entertained. A study by child development experts has concluded that the average family forks out £10,000 on toys and gadgets before their offspring turns 18. That’s […]
Great article from the Christian Science Monitor about the value of play: In recent years, child development experts, parents, and scientists have been sounding an increasingly urgent alarm about the decreasing amount of time that children – and adults, for that matter – spend playing. A combination of social forces, from a No Child Left […]
Great article from The Atlantic about how squeezing recess and playtime out of education is a really bad idea: Play is important for the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development of children. In addition to being critical for general health and a preventative against overweight, play develops life skills for children and communication skills among […]
A lot of parents freak out about how to provide enriching environments for their children and help them grow, from music lessons to early reading to math flash cards. In one of those “well duh” books, two neuroscientists, Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang remind us it doesn’t take all that much… Babies may look helpless, […]
I’m crunching numbers this morning, and after reading this I wish I’d paid more attention to Math in first grade; at least I got to study addition twice thanks to moving to a new school half way through the school year! A long-term psychology study indicates that beginning first graders that understand numbers, the quantities those […]
Pesticides used in industrial farming, lawns, and other urban greenery have been linked to all sorts of child development health issues, and now a study is suggesting one more. A study released in the May issue of Pediatrics Journal argues that there’s a connection between high exposure to common pesticides and increased risk for children developing attention […]
As the new school year begins, I wanted to mention this article from the New York Times about how schools are discouraging kids from making best friends. Ahem. Let me repeat that. Schools are discouraging children from having a best friend. That is just stupid. Or, put more professionally… “…such an attitude worries some psychologists […]
